Some Days Are Longer
by EffingUnicorn
Summary: All Eridan Ampora wanted to do was be there for his little sister, even if she's not so little anymore. When she unexpectedly leaves for a year, he's left with nobody but Sollux Captor at his side. EriSol, human AU nonsensical multichapter bullshit. Might throw in a few other minor ships, including Karkat/Terezi.
1. Chapter 1

**This idea has been playing around in my head forever, so I finally gave in and started writing.**

**I'm sorry the first chapter is a bit slow, but the second one is in the works!**

**Reviews are much appreciated!**

"Sollux, wake up, sleepy-head!"  
"Eh?" Sollux opened his groggy eyes, lifting his head from the cool, smooth surface of his desk. Feferi's face came into focus, surrounded by huge blond curls.  
"Did you sleep the _whole_ class?"  
The classroom was empty, and Sollux realized he'd somehow managed to sleep through the noise of two dozen teenagers stampeding out of a single door.  
"I think I got the first five minutes," he muttered, gathering his books and shoving them in his bag.  
She rolled her bright blue eyes before hoisting up her own bag and leading him out of the class. It takes a moment for Sollux to realize he'd agreed to go over to her house to practice their theatre final, a dialogue which he'd barely read over.  
There were still a few buses waiting for any left-over students, but Feferi led him past them to the parking lot, where an impressive sports car was parked in one of the best student spots.  
"My brother drives me home," Feferi told him, and pulled out a tiny car remote. With a click of the button, the doors unlocked, and she gestured for Sollux to slip into the back. "He'll be here soon."  
Sure enough, in a little over five minutes, Sollux heard the front door open, a mumbled swear, shuffling in the seat, and the door slammed shut. Sollux looked away from the window he'd been staring out of and registered a very disgruntled Eridan Ampora sitting in the driver's seat.  
Sollux had seen him in the hallway a few times. He was a hard sight to miss with the bright purple streak in his hair, ridiculous glasses, and flamboyant outfits that only somebody with as much money as him could pull off.  
"Who's this?" he demanded suddenly, as if he only just spotted Sollux sitting in the back. Eridan's accent was much heavier than Feferi's.  
Feferi spoke before Sollux could answer. "Sollux. We're doing our theatre project together. Sollux, this is my brother, Eridan."  
"Hey." He couldn't think of a more intelligent greeting.  
Eridan only sniffed disapprovingly and turned around, twisting the key in the ignition.  
Sollux didn't know much about cars, but it was obvious by the hum of this one that is was probably more expensive than anything he'd ever own. He thought of the old white piece of junk his parents had had for the past nine years. Two of the windows wouldn't open, one of the locks was always down, and he could name several occasions when the damn thing didn't start at all.  
Feferi tried to make conversation throughout the whole ride, but she didn't manage keeping either of them engaged for long. When one joined, the other one would fade out.  
It took twenty minutes until they turned into what he presumed to be their neighbourhood. The houses towered around the road intimidatingly, and it was as if they kept growing the deeper into the neighbourhood they drove. Finally, at the very end of the street, Eridan began to pull into a driveway which looked more like another street than anything else.  
The house was huge. It made the rest of the neighbourhood houses look like toys. Sollux spent a good thirty seconds just staring up at it, wondering how anybody could need that much _space_.  
"C'mon!" Feferi grabbed his hand and pulled him along a brick pathway that led to the imposing front door.  
The house seemed even bigger on the inside, if that was even possible. They left their shoes in the front hall, and Sollux followed Feferi to a living room the size of a classroom.  
"You sit there, and I'll go get my script!" she told him before dropping her school bag and trotting out of the room.  
Sollux sat down at the very edge of one of the couches, as if wanting to touch as little of anything as possible. He felt like he was in a museum and everything was at risk of being broken.  
As he looked around the living room, he noticed there wasn't a single family photo. In fact, there wasn't anything that would indicate anybody spending any time in the room at all. Everything was stiff and ornate, and again Sollux was comparing it to what he was used to with his own family. His living room had two mismatched and much-used couches, which he remembered bouncing on when he was little. He lazed about watching movies and occasionally spilling drinks or popcorn on the floor and coffee table.  
But here, Sollux half expected dust. He found none, as he walked around the room carefully, not touching anything, but closely examining everything. Everything was clean and spotless but something felt odd about the whole set-up. He couldn't find a single thing which could be classified as a personal object.  
There were a few paintings of sailboats and the sea, a ship in a bottle on the mantelpiece, and a thick antique rug covering much of the dark wood floor, but it all looked so planned out.  
Before he could do any more snooping, Feferi walked in, script in hand. She'd pulled her long hair into a massive ponytail, and for the millionth time, Sollux wondered why he didn't have a crush on her.  
"Okay, so, we'll read it over a few times with the script to get warmed up, and then we'll see how much we remember without it!"  
Sollux agreed and they got started.  
Feferi was a good actor-one of the best in the class. Sollux wasn't nearly as good, and he hadn't planned on taking the class in the first place, but he'd landed in it when he tried to switch out of art.  
Once they'd practiced with the script twice, they set the papers on the coffee table and tried without them. Feferi forgot only a few lines, whereas Sollux couldn't help but stumble over almost anything. What was worse, his lisp was more evident than ever when he was unsure of what he was supposed to say.  
Feferi let him skim the lines before they started again, and halfway through, Eridan slinked into the room, sitting cross-legged on the couch to watch their progress. Sollux knew Eridan was heavily involved in theatre, and had played in every performance the school had had since his Freshman year.  
When they finally got through the dialogue without too many errors from Sollux, they took a break to eat.  
Feferi told Sollux and Eridan to wait while she made something for the three of them.  
Sollux sat on the couch opposite of Eridan. For a while neither of them said anything, and Sollux couldn't think of anything worth starting a conversation over.  
"You're not supposed to face your partner when you're actin'," Eridan suddenly said.  
Sollux blinked in surprise. "Huh?"  
"You're supposed to stand at an angle. So the audience can see your face better."  
"Oh. Um. Thanks."  
Eridan shrugged. "Also you're too stiff. You can't just say the lines-your body language has to mirror what you're sayin'."  
"Er, right, I'll keep that in mind."  
"You better, or you'll end up lookin' like a stiff plank on stage."  
"Uh, I won't actually be on stage, 'cause we're just-"  
Eridan waved his hand dismissively, and Sollux caught a glimpse of several rings adorning his long fingers. "All the same."  
Sollux couldn't think of anything else to add, so he was relieved when Feferi appeared, large bowl of chips in hand.  
"There's soda and dip on the counter," she told Eridan.  
He grumbled but got up to go get them and Feferi took his place on the couch, setting the bowl between her and Sollux on the coffee table.  
"He's not really that bad," she said.  
"Huh?"  
"Eridan."  
Sollux's brow creased in the middle. "I never said..."  
Feferi smiled. "Yeah, but I thought I should let you know anyway."  
She popped a tortilla chip into her mouth.  
Eridan returned with the promised drinks and dip, and Sollux accepted his Mountain Dew happily, much in need of caffeine.  
Feferi had flavoured the chips with lime juice, and the combination of citrus and dip was delicious. Nobody spoke until the last crumbs had been picked out.  
"I was tellin' your friend here to be more open to the audience an' such," Eridan told Feferi, who rolled her eyes.  
"This is the first practice though," she reminded him.  
Eridan shook his head. "Excuses, excuses."  
Feferi sighed and looked over to Sollux. "Sorry about him."  
"Nah, it's cool, gotta listen to the theatre junkie."  
Eridan arched a single eyebrow, an action that looked too well rehearsed to be natural. "Excuse me?"  
Sollux blinked and opened his mouth to respond.  
"Let's continue practice!" Feferi exclaimed quickly, clapping her hands together.  
Eridan pulled his knees to his chest and sat back further on the couch to watch them. Sollux made a point to follow Eridan's advice, if only to give him nothing more to complain about, but he still managed to find plenty of mistakes in need of fixing.  
Although he gave a few pieces of advice to his sister, most of Eridan's critique was directed at Sollux, and try as he might, he couldn't meet many of Eridan's high demands. Still, as much as he hated to admit it, everything Eridan said was true, and Sollux improved more that afternoon than he had all semester.  
By the time they were finished, he could recite the script backwards and forwards and could easily have said both characters' lines if need be.  
"Satisfied?" he couldn't help but ask Eridan, who hadn't moved from his seat on the couch throughout the whole time.  
"Well it's better than the first time, I guess," Eridan replied, unimpressed.  
Sollux choked back several creatively worded insults, opting instead for, "Well if you're so good, why don't you show how it's done?"  
And he did.  
Sollux realized it was probably a good idea to listen to Eridan Ampora.


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I rewrote it some many times, I'm just ****_done_**** with it. I ended up starting it from scratch instead of using the one I'd already started when I published the first one.**

**Anyway, all my rambling aside, I hope you enjoy! (Reviews are still wonderful, blah blah blah)**

"Wait, you were at Feferi Ampora's house. The Feferi Peixes-Ampora?" Karkat's voice sounded distant through the cell phone.  
"That's the one," Sollux confirmed. Karkat liked to make a big deal every time Sollux mentioned Feferi.  
"How do you do it? Half the male population of our school would be gnawing their right leg off for a chance to slobber at her outside class, and there you are, calmly telling me you entered the fucking queen's palace like it's fucking nothing."  
Sollux snorted. "You have the hots for her, or what is this?"  
"No, but I seem to be the 1% that doesn't follow her around like a lost puppy," Karkat huffed.  
"Right, I forgot you've already found your soulmate and are waiting for the day she finally deems you worthy enough to lick your face."  
"Shut the fuck up, asshole,"

"Okay, let's go through it one more time!" Feferi announced.  
Sollux nodded and they ran through the dialogue for the millionth time. He would never have imagined putting so much effort into a theatre project, but Feferi's excitement was contagious. They had to present next week-the last week of school-and Sollux was sure they'd get top marks. Even Eridan seemed satisfied, and his comments grew scarcer each practice.  
"Sollux, you have to gesture with your upstage hand, but otherwise that's a lot fuckin' better."  
During many of the earlier practices, Sollux had grown irritated at Eridan's constant, and often snarky, comments, but he'd kept reminding himself, Eridan knew what he was doing-even if he could be an ass about it.  
"Well, that's enough for now," Feferi finally said, sending a wave of relief through Sollux, who sat down on the couch and took a sip of his Pepsi.  
"That was great," she told him, beaming. "We're going to be fantastic!"

"Where are your parents?" Sollux asked. The question had been gnawing at him for a long time, and he'd finally decided there could be no harm in asking.  
They were in the Amporas' kitchen, Feferi sitting atop one of the gleaming granite counters while their brownie batter cooked in the oven. They'd finished practice an hour ago, and Eridan had left for his room almost immediately.  
Feferi took a moment to answer, as if she were thinking over what to say. "We live with our father," she explained. "Our mother never came to the US with us, and she's living in Spain now. Father's got long business hours, and he comes home a lot later than most people. He's actually on a business trip in Dublin right now."  
"Oh."  
Feferi smiled a bit. "It's not all that bad. Eridan's more affected by it, I think."  
Sollux had noticed Eridan could be a bit overprotective, and every time Sollux joined them on their car ride home, Eridan would ask her about her day, much like a parent. When Jade Harley had invited Feferi over, Eridan drilled her on questions before agreeing to take her on their way to Sollux's house. They had three, maybe four years of an age difference, Feferi being quite a young Freshman and Eridan a Junior (Sollux was a Sophomore himself), but Eridan seemed to try to play the role of almost a parent figure, it seemed.  
It made sense, Sollux supposed.  
The time rang, announcing that the brownies were finished, and Feferi pulled the pan out with large oven-mits patterned with little red and blue anchors.  
"Can you go tell Eridan the brownies are done?" she asked. "His door is the first to the left when you go upstairs.  
Sollux nodded and followed her directions, ending up at a white door with a poster advertising their school's musical a few months back taped neatly to it. Sollux read Eridan's name featured as part of the main cast.  
The door was cracked open, but Sollux knocked anyway, not wanting to intrude. He got no answer and tried again.  
After the third try he pushed the door open, revealing a surprisingly purple room. There were a few posters on the wall (one for the sixth Harry Potter movie, another school play ad, and a band Sollux hadn't heard about, but which looked like a mix of punk and something more theatrical), a messily made bed, a nightstand with several books piled on it, and a cluttered desk covered in papers and various pens and pencils.  
Sollux couldn't see Eridan anywhere, and he was about to back out of the room when a photograph caught his eye. It was sitting next to the books on the nightstand, and it was the first one he'd seen in the whole house, so after making sure Eridan was nowhere in sight, he took a few cautious steps into the room and picked it up.  
It was a photograph of two kids on Halloween, and Sollux recognized Feferi immediately. She had the same blond curls, bright blue eyes, and rosy cheeks. She was dressed as a princess with a golden tiara. It took much longer for Sollux to realize the boy next to her must be Eridan.  
He looked closely, and after a moment he did see some resemblance. Even at the age of nine or ten he had quite a sharp jaw line and his hair was the same shade of light, light blond (without the purple streak of course). But his eyes were bright, unlike the hard cold grey Sollux had become accustomed to. He was grinning from ear to ear, a lollipop stuck between his teeth. Sollux guessed he was dressed as a Vampire based on the oversized purple cape, but he couldn't be sure. Both him and Feferi were clutching plastic Jack o' Lanterns overfilled with candy.  
"What the hell are you doin' in here."  
Sollux nearly dropped the photo in surprise and spun 180 degrees only to find himself face to face with Eridan Ampora, his eyes glinting dangerously behind his thick glasses.  
Sollux wondered at what point Eridan had changed so much from the little boy in the photo.  
"Sorry, I was just gonna tell you the brownies were ready, but you weren't-"  
"So you thought you'd snoop through my room?"  
"Uh, sorry, I just saw the photo, and I-"  
"Decided to just barge into here without my permission?" Sollux swore he could hear a stutter on the 'w'.  
Sollux set the photo back down before throwing his arms up in frustration. "Hey, I'm sorry, okay! I was just curious! No need to get your fucking panties in a twist about it."  
"Whatever, just get out of my room," he muttered finally, striding over to his bed and sitting on the edge of it, arms crossed.  
Sollux walked over to the doorway before stopping. Without turning around, he said, "You should smile more often." With that he closed the bedroom door and went back downstairs to join Feferi in eating a whole sheet full of brownies between the two of them.  
He had no idea what had made him say it, but the instant he had, he knew it was true.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow, I'm sorry it took so long to update! I wrote this chapter three times before being remotely satisfied with it, and finally typed it up real quick today. I didn't even have time to proof read it properly, so I hope there aren't ****_too_**** many mistakes.**

**Reviews are super loved! uvu**

When Sollux had first heard of the dialogue assignment, he hadn't thought much of it. But now, walking to class a week-and-a-half of frequent practices later, he felt his stomach churn uncomfortably from excitement and nerves. It was stupid, considering he didn't care about his grade in the class, but after so much effort, he felt responsible for acing the damn thing.  
He felt a tap on his shoulder, and seconds later Feferi was walking alongside him, practically bouncing with nervousness. Sollux was about to remind her she was the better actor out of the two of them, but as soon as they stepped foot into the classroom, the teacher ushered them to their seats at opposite ends of the room.  
Most of the performances were awkward and dull, and Sollux was reminded of his own acting only a little over a week ago. His stomach mostly relaxed.  
When a pair of Freshman girls gave up after erupting into a fit of giggles and breaking character, the teacher sighed deeply and consulted the clipboard on his lap.  
"Feferi and Sollux."  
Sollux snorted in amusement at Feferi who rocketed out of her seat at the mention of her name. Sollux got up more slowly and followed her to the clear space at the front of the class.  
Once the class had settled down from the inevitable chatter that followed each dialogue, Feferi took a deep breath before almost melting into character. She began the first line, and for a split second Sollux was sure he'd forgotten the whole script, but as soon as it was his turn to speak, words spilled out naturally, and he was back on track.  
There were no fireworks or standing ovation, but Sollux knew they'd done a good job based on the impressed nods from his classmates as they applauded. The teacher smiled and wrote something down on his clipboard.  
Feferi beamed at him before they took their seats. Sollux responded with a grin and thumbs-up.  
After the final bell rang, she caught his arm before he could make it through the doorway with the rest of the class.  
"I think this calls for some celebratory smoothies!" she told him happily.  
He laughed and nodded. "Can't argue with smoothies."  
"Celebratory smoothies" ended up consisting of Feferi and Sollux snickering while Eridan fumbled with the blender, swearing colourfully as he went.  
"This peice of shit won't fuckin' turn on," he yelled for what must have been the fifth time in the past half an hour.  
Sollux had made no move to help in the whole time he'd watched Eridan wrestle with the appliance and wasn't about to start now, but Feferi finally pushed herself off the countertop where she'd been sitting and took the blender from her brother. Sollux guessed she wanted to rescue it before he threw it across the kitchen in frustration, an outcome that had been becoming more and more likely with each passing curse.  
"Let me see that," she mumbled, although it was already in her hands. She turned it over a few times, inspecting it closely, until she adjusted the chord in the back, flipped a switch, and pressed a button. The blades whirred to life, chopping at thin air. Satisfied, she turned it back off.  
Eridan huffed. "I was gettin' there..." he grumbled.  
She giggled. "Of course you were."  
He sniffed, crossed his arms over his chest tightly, and stormed out of the room. They could hear him stomp heavily all the way up the stairs.  
Sollux stared after him. "What the fuck is his problem?"  
Feferi busied herself by walking across the kitchen to grab a large glass measuring cup and going back to the ice machine to dispense crushed ice into the cup, although she could have easily avoided the pacing by asking Sollux to help. She didn't answer until she'd dumped the jagged pieces of ice into the blender.  
"He's a bit upset," she sighed. "It's my fault, actually."  
She pressed a setting for the blender and it roared back to life, too loud to allow any further conversation.  
"How come?" Sollux asked when she finally turned it off to inspect the ice.  
She clicked the blender back on. Another break in the conversation.  
At last she seemed satisfied with the mixture, but it took her a long time to answer. "I waited a bit too long to tell him something important," she said, which did nothing to help Sollux's confusion. "In fact, I should probably apologize to you too!"  
She turned to face him, blue eyes wide and guilty.  
Baffled, Sollux's head tilted slightly, dark brows creasing.  
Feferi nodded, biting her bottom lip, smudging some of her pale pink lip gloss onto her pearly white teeth. She looked down before answering. "I-won't-be-here-at-all-next-school-year." She spoke quickly, as if any hesitation would make her double-think what she said.  
Sollux recoiled in surprise. He hadn't known what to expect, but it certainly wasn't that. "What, why?"  
"And most of the summer," she added. "I'm going to Spain to be with my mum for a while."  
Sollux's assembly line of thought must have been working slower than usual, because it took him much too long to process what she was saying.  
"...Spain?"  
She nodded, twisting her hands together and staring down at them with utmost concentration, as if each movement was deathly important.  
"I should have told him earlier," she whispered. "But I was kind of delaying it, I guess."  
"So he's not coming?"  
She shook her head, a strand of blond hair slipping from behind her ear to hang over her face. "Nope. We've always been kind of a set. So this will be...different. I guess." She sighed. "But I should have told him earlier."  
Sollux wondered if different was what she needed, but he didn't say anything more on the matter other than to tell her to have a good time and take lots of pictures.  
They drank their smoothies in relative silence and watched as Eridan's melted in his tall glass, untouched.


End file.
